Green Tomato Pickle

If there are green tomatoes left in your garden at the end of the season, this is the perfect solution. It’s sweet and tangy and delicous on meats… or on a cheddar cheese sandwich!

• Wash and cut into thin slices 8 quarts green tomatoes.

• Peel, cut into thin slices and add 12 large onions, 1 cup coarse salt. Let stand 12 hours. Wash in clear water and drain.

• Heat to boiling point 3 quarts cider vinegar and add 12 green peppers, sliced thin, 6 sweet red peppers, diced. Add 12 minced cloves garlic, 4 lbs. brown sugar. Add tomatoes and onions.

• Tie into cloth bag and add 2 Tbsp dry mustard, 2 Tbsp whole cloves, 2 sticks cinnamon, 2 Tbsp powdered ginger, 1 Tbsp salt, 1 Tbsp celery seed.

• Simmer until tomatoes are transparent, about 1 hour. Stir frequently.

• Place pickles in sterile jars and seal.

For safe home-canning tips check out the Bernardin web-site

Green Tomato Relish

Aunt Jessie’s special recipe! Check out the Georgetown Farmer’s Market for green tomatoes.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 quarts green tomatoes
• 2 quarts onions
• 3/4 cup salt
• 1 quart vinegar
• 3 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pickling spice

METHOD

1. Peel and slice tomatoes and onions.
2. Dissolve salt in enough water to cover vegetables.
3. Cover vegetables and let stand 24 hours.
4. Drain.
5. Add vinegar, sugar and spices (tied in bag).
6. Simmer gently until vegetables are quite tender.
7. Remove spice bag, pour into hot, sterilized jars, and seal.

Mustard Bean Pickle

Just what you’re looking for – the recipe you remember someone in your family making every year – and you thought it was lost forever!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 quart yellow beans, cut in halves
• 1 pint vinegar
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 tsp celery seed
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1/3 cup dry mustard
• 1/3 cup flour

METHOD

1. Cook beans until tender. Drain.
2. Make mustard sauce from remaining ingredients. Heat over medium heat for 3 minutes.
3. Add beans. Bring to boil.
4. Stir lightly until sauce thickens.
5. Pack in sterilized jars and seal.

Peach Chutney

Originally Published in Foodstuffs Hot Off the Griddle, July 1993.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large onion
• 1/2 pound seedless raisins
• 1 small garlic clove
• 4 lbs. ripe peaches
• 2 Tbsp chili powder
• 2/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger
• 2 Tbsp mustard seed
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 quart vinegar
• 1 1/4 lbs. brown sugar

METHOD

1. Put onion, raisins, garlic through food chopper.
2. Peel peaches; cut in small pieces.
3. Add peaches to first mixture with remaining ingredients.
4. Bring to boiling point.
5. Boil slowly, stirring occasionally, 1 hour, or until thick and rich brown in colour.
6. Pour into 3 hot, sterilized pint jars, filling to top. Seal.

Rhubarb Jam

Originally published in Foodstuffs Hot Off the Griddle July 2005.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 cups rhubarb, cut fine
• 6 cups sugar
• 5 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 pkgs strawberry jello powder

METHOD

Mix and let stand overnight. Boil for 10 minutes. Set aside for 10 minutes; add 2 packages strawberry jello powder, stir well and pour into jars.

Retro Strawberry Jam

We first published this in the June ’95 issue of Foodstuffs Hot Off the Griddle, but this recipe is actually much older.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 lbs. berries
• 6 lbs. sugar
• Certo
• juice of 1 lemon

METHOD

1. Bring to berries and sugar full rolling boil and boil 5 minutes.
2. Add 1/2 bottle of Certo and juice of 1 lemon.
3. Boil 5 minutes.
4. Take from heat, add 1/4 tsp. butter.
5. Stir till all froth is gone.

This is very good, and is NOT in the Certo book.

Zucchini Pickle

Originally published in Foodstuffs Hot Off the Griddle, August 1993.

INGREDIENTS

• 16 medium unpeeled zucchini, diced
• 8 large onions, diced
• 6 large celery stalks, diced
• 1 cup pickling salt
• 6 cups granulated sugar
• 6 cups cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp each celery seed, mustard seed, and turmeric

METHOD

1. Place vegetables in a large glass bowl.
2. Sprinkle with salt, cover with a clean tea towel and let stand overnight.
3. In the morning, drain vegetables in a colander and rinse under cold water to remove loose salt.
4. Combine remaining ingredients in a large pot, bring to a boil and simmer about 3 minutes.
5. Add drained vegetables, remove from heat and allow mixture to stand for 2 hours.
6. Bring to the boil again, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
7. Spoon into sterilized jars while hot, then seal.

Yield: 16 – 6 oz. jars.

Chili Sauce - the Classic

From the Collection of Marg Dye

This recipe – or something like it – has been in every Canadian family's recipe treasury for generations – how better to use some of those tomatoes that are ripening faster than you can ever hope to eat them?

Honestly, there's no substitute for hand-chopping. The food processor will make short work of it ... but the resulting Chili Sauce "relish" will not be quite as spectacular. Delicious with meats and cheeses… or chips... or just by the spoonful!

INGREDIENTS

• 12 cups peeled ripe tomatoes, cut in eighths
• 3 cups finely chopped inner celery
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1/4 cup pickling salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/16 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 2 Tbsp mustard seed
• 1 finely chopped medium green pepper
• 6-ounce can tomato paste

METHOD

1. Pour boiling water over about 3 1/2 quarts tomatoes to blanch for 1 minutes.
2. Drain. Peel and cut into eighths, then measure 12 cups, well packed.
3. Stir in the chopped celery and onion, and sprinkle with the pickling salt and stir in and let stand overnight.
4. In the morning, drain through colander to drain off excess liquid but do not press it.
5. Turn into large kettle (not enamel) and add sugar, vinegar, mustard seed and cayenne and boil for 45 minutes, or until celery is tender and tomatoes are cooked to a mush, stirring frequently.
6. Now add finely chopped green pepper and the tomato paste and boil 15 to 30 minutes longer or until green pepper is tender and all is of chili sauce consistency.
7. Pour into sterile jars and seal.

Scan the recipe index for other ways to get into a
delicious pickle!